Matthew Perry Cleans Up, Slims Down

Oct. 26 -- Friends star Matthew Perrysays his partying days are over after a health scare in thespring that forced him to straighten out his life.

Perry, who appeared as a dramatically thinner Chandler in thenew season of the hit NBC television sitcom, denied tabloid pressrumors that he was on drugs, or that he had damaged his liver sobadly because of drinking that he needed a transplant.

Perry, 31, told Us Weekly in an interview to be publishedFriday that he had lost 20 pounds since being hospitalized in Maywith acute pancreatitis — a rare inflammation that is causedpartly by alcohol abuse and prescription drugs.

“In my case, it was hard living and drinking hard and eatingpoorly. You play, you pay,” Us Weekly quoted Perry as saying.

Looking For a WifePerry, who had voluntary treatment three years ago fordependency on the painkiller Vicodin and whose weight hasballooned up and down since then, said the pancreatitis episodescared him.

“It was time to put back the pieces back together and that’swhat I did,” he said, adding, “I’m back on my feet again andfeeling fine.”

Perry said he was sober, had not been to any of his oldnightclub haunts for six months and was now looking forward tosettling down and having children.

“I don’t think I’m going to meet my wife at the Sky Bar,” hesaid.

“My twenties were about work — making enough money so that Icould do what I wanted to do — and partying, stuff like that.

“I think, I hope, that my thirties are going to be more aboutdeveloping my social skills in a way I haven’t done before sothat I get married in my thirties and have children in mythirties,” he told the magazine.